A New Show
by Lazza Styles
Summary: I stepped out of the shadows, and wandered over to Adam, who smiled genuinely at me. I realized at that moment how much I liked Adam, not just as a person, but as a friend, someone who I can trust. For the first time since it happened, I smiled.
1. Chapter 1- And We Begin

The man's black hair almost hung in his green-grey eyes. I stared in shock as he smiled, a boyish mischievous smile that could make anyone's heart melt. Except for mine.  
"Welcome to your audition." He smirked. I rolled my eyes and turned to the next judge. She looked about twenty, with curls of blonde hair. Her smile was one that was so infectious, it could anyone smile. But me.  
The last one was much older than the other two. A black man, with a quick smile and dark eyes that you could lose yourself in. But not me.  
"What are you going to be singing?" Adam asked. I hesitated, knowing now who the judge was.  
"One of your songs, actually." I admitted after a moment. His eyes widened for a second before he grinned.  
"Which? I have about three, four albums out." Adam said easily. I hesitated again.  
"Pick you up. I know the octave is hard." I said, a bit more confidently as Adam and Demi exchanged a quick knowing smile. I sang it as well as I could, and considering my voice has a two-note difference between Adam's himself. I hit that quick six-note progresssion, and then juped the octave for the fun of it. Adam's eyebrows had disappeared in his bangs, and Demi looked shocked. Taye Diggs was grinning and tapping his foot to the beat. I ended and took a theatrical bow. Adam laughed and applauded, his shocked expression gone. Demi grinned sheepishly, and Taye grinned.  
"Well ,you're a cute one, aren't you?" Demi asked. I blushed, despite myself.  
"How old are you?" Taye asked, dodging the punch Demi threw at him. Adam chuckled.  
"Twenty. And I'm gay, Demi." I said. Adam spit out the water he'd been drinking, and Demi fell out of her chair. Taye burst out laughin a tthe two other judges. "Anyways, how'd you end up here? And Simon's a producer, isn't he?" Demi nodded sheepishly.  
"This is like a mix of The Voice, X Factor, and American Idol. You get one of us as a mentor and a friend. We each get three people. First weeks we duet, then you guys perform together, then solo. And I claim him." Adam said before the ohers could.  
"I'm looking for lower voices anways, Adam. Take him." Taye said. Demi pouted.  
"I don't get anybody, do I?" She joked. "I hate being on a panel with two guys." Adam grinned as Taye responded, "Well, Adam's not much of a guy, is he?" I raised an eyebrow at their antics.  
"So," I said, reminding them I was here. Adam grinned.  
"When you leave, turn left. There will be three rooms, each marked wth our names. Go into mine and chill with everyone there." I left, but hid, pretending to leave, and listened to them.  
"What was his name?" Adam asked quietly. I heard a shuffling of papers, befre someone answered.  
"His name was Nicolas Lambert. I think he goes by Niki, though." Taye said, handing the paper over to Adam, who dropped it. Rolling her eyes, Demi picked it p and handed it back to Adam.  
"Niki Ethan Lambert, age twenty, birthday January 31. Voice is brilliant, one to match Freddie Mercury's. Self-trained. Wow." Adam murmured. Demi read over his shoulder.  
"He's done theater, as Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde the musical, for a year, and was Fiyero in Wicked for a couple months in England." At that point, I got bored, but waited a couple more seconds.  
"He's quite a talented performer. If I didn't know better, I'd say he reminds me of you, Adam. He's not as outgoing, but that's easily fixed, right?" Taye said in his quiet tenor voice.  
"I was thinking about having him play dress up." Adam teased back. I smiled and slipped out of the room. I headed to where the door said ADAM in glitter and plastic jewels. Smiling inwardly at Adam's antics, I stepped inside to see two people already sitting there. Both were girls, but looked like complete opposites. One had white-blonde hair, and the darkest eyes I've ever seen. She was petite with a quick smile and was just chubby enough to be cute. The other was tall, and frowning, with long black hair and light grey eyes. I sat down next to them.  
"Hi! I'm Ashley, that's Elizabeth." The blonde one bounced over to me and shook my hand, dimples appearing as her smile widened.  
"Call me Liz." The tall one said. I smiled, a clearly fake and polite smile.  
"Niki." I said, shaking both their hands. Within minutes after that, Adam slipped into the room, and sensed the awkwardness between us.  
"Hey, guys. You all know me, right?" Adam joked, a light smile on his face. Nobody smiled, even Ashley. "Oh, come on guys. We're going to be spending a lot of time together, and as of this moment, you are allies. First week is a riff-off. Anyone seen Pitch Perfect?" We all nodded. "Well ,that's the basic idea. We want to stick with rock songs, if possible. That the aura I chose you for, you can pull that off. I'm going to give you all a small piece of one of my songs, and I want you to practice it for tomorrow. Each group is performing a song. I chose Aftermath, if that's alright." We all nodded again, the tension in the room lifting slightly.  
"Now, I have an idea, let's go around the room. You say your full name, age, who your musical role model is, and one other thing about yourself. Ashley," Adam said with a smile.  
"Hi, I'm Ashley Cameron. I'm nineteen. I really like Avril Lavigne, and I'm naturally a redhead." Ashley said with a grin. Adam laughed.  
"Good! Liz!"  
"Hi, I'm Elizabeth Anne Corcoran, Liz for short. I'm eighteen, and I've always liked Fleetwood Mac, especially Lindsey Buckingham. I grew up the youngest in a family of ten." Liz said, her lips twitching into a small smile.  
"Niki?"  
"I'm Nicolas Ethan Lambert, Niki for short, or Nico if you want. I'm twenty, my birthday is January thirty-first, and my musical role model is-" I hesitated. Should I say the truth? Adam gestured for me to finish. "My musical role model for sining is Adam, and my role model for my instruments is Tommy Joe Ratcliff. I play guitar and bass also." I said, blushing. Ashley grinned.  
"I play guitar and piano." She said with a quick giggle.  
"Piano and drums." Liz offered. Adam burst out laughing.  
"For our performances, I was gonna use my own band, but you guys could pull off a band of our own with Tommy." Adam grinned. We all nodded in agreement, quiet again.  
"Alright, so I'll give you a copy of Aftermath. Unless you guys have a different song you can agree on." Adam said, looking at us carefully. I guess he saw the hesitation in my, and in Liz's eyes, because he looked at us strangely.  
"Spill." Ashley said, seeing the looks Liz and I were exchanging.  
"Well, I think that Aftermath is more of a stay strong type song. We don't want to come off too arrogant, for something like that, so we should start off with something else. I like the idea of an Adam song, but we should probably play it that we chose it, and didn't tell him, so he's unprepared as to what we're singing. Maybe we should do For Your Entertainment. It's a bit risque as our opening, but if you follow my logic, we want them to know we're risque." I said. Liz nodded in agreement. Ashley thought for a moment before nodding.  
"That makes sense. How much time do we have to practice on the stage?" Ashley said. Adam frowned.  
"None, as far as I know. Sneak in around two in the morning, I'll leave the doors open for you guys. I'll meet you. Split the stuff up, and let me know what I'm singing." Adam shrugged. I guess he followed that because of what I just said, and Liz's reaction, we were able to work out details ourselves. Adam twisted on the couch he was sitting on into a sleeping position and closed his eyes. I could tell he was still listening, though. I think the others did also, because they winked at each other.  
"Okay, so I was thinking that-"


	2. Chapter 2- Rehearsal and Realization

"Ps, Ash! I'm here!" I hissed. Ashley's hair was pulled up into a black beanie cap. She was wearing all black, just like Liz and I, who were already sitting there, waiting for her.  
"Sorry, I was with Adam. He's coming, he'll unlock the doors from inside." Ashley whispered. As soon as she said that, the door swung open silently. Adam, wearing all black as well, gestured for us to jin him inside. The lights were all on, and we each took a spot on the stage.  
"Ready?" I called quietly to them. They all grinned and nodded back.  
"So, Adam, we figured, you just join in wherever you want, except for the bridge, and for the second part of the chorus. We want to show off Niki and his vocals." Liz said. Adam grinned as I blushed.  
"Okay. I told the band to meet me, don't worry, this place is soundproof. No one can hear us once Tommy shuts the door, right Tommy?" Adam called. Tommy waved, and the rest of the band walked in and took their places. Tommy ended up right next to me.  
"Hey. I'm Tommy." He said with a grin. I smiled back.  
"Niki." I said and shook his hand. I could feel the callouses from playing guitar and bass, and knew he coud feel mine.  
"What do you play?" He asked, sincerely interested. I told him and he grinned.  
"Maybe we'll chill and play sometime?" He suggested. I nodded, a grin appearing on my face.  
"Niki! Quit flirting with Tommy, he's straight, unfortunately, and get your ass over here!" Adam called from downstage. I laughed and joined him and the girls.  
"Tommy and I put together the costumes for tomorrow. Here." Ashley handed Liz, Adam and I clothes. "The band already has theirs." In my hands, and Adam's, were a pair of black leather pants, and a loose black shirt. We both quickly changed, ignoring the appreciative looks Liz gave both of us. She handed us both necklaces and bracelets, and a handful of rings, which we quickly split up. She then handed us each a tube of eyeliner.  
"Have fun with your makeup, guys." Ashley grinned before moving on to help Liz.  
"Here, I'll do yours, and you do mine." Adam said, before quickly doing my liner for me. I reached out and did his with a steady hand. We both quickly stuck a bit of lip gloss on, and he showed me his trick for getting the jewels to stay on his face. Ashley was about to say something to us, but stopped in her tracks.  
"You guys look-" Ashley started, but stopped.  
"She was either going to say hot or identical." Liz added dryly. We looked at each other in confusion.  
"I'm blond, Ash, Liz." I reminded them gently. They grinned like maniacs. Tommy wandered over and his gaze fell on Adam and me.  
"Wow. You two are lamost enough to turn me." He joked. Adam had a pained look on his face, before quickly hiding, but I caught it. Tommy frowned slightly and wandered back over to his bass.  
"Hey, Tommy, start playing Whataya." I called, grabbing Monte's guitar. He began to play, and I joined in, as Adam clipped my mike onto my shirt.  
"Whataya want from, whataya want from me." I sang quietly, playing right next to Tommy. Tommy pulled me into the shadows suddenly and kissed me.  
"What the hell? You're straight!" I hissed. Tommy smiled dryly and pointed at Adam, but put a quick finger on my lips.  
"-and then Tommy decided that he was straight, after kissing me practically every night for eight months." Adam was saying angrily to Ashley and Liz.  
"He loves you." I whispered. Tommy nodded and pulled me back, so that my back was pressed against his chest.  
"I know. He's not my type. Too- talkative." Tommy said quietly, in my ear. I shivered before mentally punching myself. Adam was head over heels with the guy who had just kissed me.  
"Niki? We have to rehearse!" Adam called. I stepped out of the shadows, and wandered over to Adam, who smiled genuinely at me. I realized at that moment how much I liked Adam, not just as a person, but as a friend, someone who I can trust. For the first time since it happened, I smiled.


	3. Chapter 3- Performance and Papers

"So, first it's Demi's group, then Taye wants to go second, if just to top Demi slightly. And then we'll look totally awesome compared to Taye." Adam said, practically jumping up and down from nerves. I was sitting on my hands, staring at a waterbottle. Compleely at ease, Ashley and Liz were playing Wii in our dressing room. We were all in costume already, makeup and everything. Adam and I were nervous as hell, and Tommy was completely avoiding the two of us. He knew if we ever did Fever, though, he'd probably have to kiss at least Adam, if not me also.  
"Adam, can we talk?" I asked. He followed me farther itno the room, where we were alone.  
"What's up, something on your mind." Adam said, lounging on a couch. I sat down next to him.  
"Tommy kissed me yesterday." I said. Adam didn't move, just rubbed is face, before pausing and attempting to fix his makeup.  
"He told me. Then avoided me like the plague." Adam said as I grabbed the eyliner bottle off the table and ahnded it to him, along with a mirror. One thing that was good about Adam beng our judge: There was eyeliner bottles everywhere. Not one room in this place didn't have a bottle.  
"I don't like him like that." I tried to explain, but Adam hushed me.  
"Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I'll bring them." He said into his headset. He gestured for me to follow him. We picked up the girls and the rest of the band, and went upstairs, to where everyone was meeting.  
"You'll be introduced to the other teams afterwards, right now, they just want a quick run-through as to what they say about yourselves." Adam explained on the way up. We nodded, and each went to a different person who quietly called our names. In the background, we could hear Demi's group performing I Knew You Were Trouble, by Taylor Swift. Adam made a face at us, and we all laughed. He had just set our nerves at ease.  
"So, name." The guy who I was with was pretty cute, but why let him know that?  
"Niki Lambert." I responded. It became a game. Age; twenty. From; Chicago. Then he got to the point.  
"Sexuality." He said calmly, although he blushed a bit.  
"Gay as the fourth of July!" Adam chorused as he walked by. "But no flirting, Kar, he's mine." Both Kar and I punched his arm lightly as he contined by. We could hear him laughing with the girls, as they had already finished.  
"Here's my number. Gimme a call sometime, Niki." Kar handed me a piece of paper. Grinning, I slipped it into my pocket and joined the girls and Adam.  
"Did he give you his number?" Adam asked. Blushing, I nodded. "Give it to me." Adam held his hand out. I gave him the paper, and he tore it to pieces. "Karson is a huge flirt, but he never goes for a real relationship. I am not letting you go out with him, ever, never ever." Adam said. Ashley raised her eyebrow at us, and I blushed again. She got that, and by the way Liz was looking at me, so did she.  
"Overprotective much, Adam?" Karson walked by and shot at the judge, who stuck his tongue out in response. I grinned as the host, some guy by the name of Chris Daniels called us out.  
"And now Adam Lambert's group. A strange group Adam chose, Ashley Cameron is an alto, with a rock style. Her role model is Avril Lavigne, and covers quite a bit of her stuff on Youtube. Search it up, her name is ashthebear. (A/N: not a real thing. don't search it up) Liz Corcoran is a soprano, who has only ever done theater until now. She isn't on Youtube, but she claims she had a MySpace page before Yutube was invented. And last is Niki Lambert. He's not related to Adam, but he could very well be. Practically identical, with similar styles, Niki and Adam's voices are different by a simple five-note range. We have no idea what song they're performing, because Adam himself was not told by his contestants what they're doing. Si, with that said, I'm pleased to introduce The Lamberts!" We raced onstage and quicly took our places. With that, I gave the countoff, my hand in the air.  
"One, two. One two three four." I said quietly into my microphone. With that, Ashley launched into her role.  
"So hot  
Out the box  
Can you pick up the pace?" She danced over to one of Adam's dancers,, Taylor, I think his name was, and did a small routine with him, not tripping over the box sitting there, like every other team had. It was almost obvious we'd practiced on the stage before, but not totally obvious.  
"Turn it up,  
Heat it up  
I need to be entertained" She danced over to Liz, who harmonized with her effortlessly. We hadn't told Liz to do that, but she had told us she may randomly harmonize. Adam had said the same thing, so we all were ready for it. "Push the limit  
Are you with it?  
Baby, don't be afraid  
I'm a hurt 'ya real good, baby" Ashley lowered her microphone carefully, as Liz lifted hers.  
"Let's go  
It's my show  
Baby, do what I say  
Don't trip off the glitz  
That I'm gonna display" She was playing it more risque than Ashley had, but she was clearly enjoying herself with that dancer, who's name I really can't remember (Terrance, maybe).  
"I told ya  
I'm a hold ya down until you're amazed  
Give it to ya 'til you're screaming my name." She danced over to Monte, who grinned and let go of his guitar neck, and Liz flirtily played the chords.  
"No escaping when I start  
Once I'm in I own your heart  
There's no way you'll ring the alarm  
So hold on until it's over." Ashley danced over to Tommy and did the same thing. Adam joined in singing that part, harmonizing an octave lower than Ashley's voice. Quickly, we regrouped in the middle and did a dance we'd planned on before.  
"Oh, do you know what you got into?  
Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?  
'Cause it's about to get rough for you  
I'm here for your entertainment." We did it effortlessly, and Adam joined us after the first two moves.  
"Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet  
'Ya thought an angel swept you off ya feet  
But I'm about to turn up the heat  
I'm here for your entertainment." I sang, almost gliding in fornt of them, and spent my verse flirting with Adam. Cause, you know, why the hell not?  
"It's alright  
You'll be fine  
Baby, I'm in control  
Take the pain  
Take the pleasure  
I'm the master of both  
Close your eyes  
Not your mind  
Let me into your soul  
I'm a work it 'til you're totally blown," She just dance dher way through that, right down the little strip to the judges table, where the other judges sat, watching us with half-amused- half-pissed-off looks on their faces. Demi raised her eyebrow as Liz pulled Taye up and tried to teach him our dance.  
"No escaping when I start  
Once I'm in I own your heart  
There's no way you'll ring the alarm  
So hold on until it's over." I sang.  
"Oh, do you know what you got into?  
Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?  
'Cause it's about to get rough for you  
I'm here for your entertainment." Monte sang along.  
"Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet  
'Ya thought an angel swept ya off your feet  
Well I'm about to turn up the heat  
I'm here for your entertainment." Asley did the same thing I did, with Adam, who was smiling widely at our antics.  
"Oh oh...  
Oh oh...  
Entertainment...  
Oh oh... Oh entertainment...  
I'm here for your entertainment..." We jumped back into the shadows, as the lights went down on the stage, and quickly set up our boxes. I stood right in the middle of the stage, and a spotlight immdeiately found me. I took a normal-Adam-pose on the box.  
"Oooohhh...  
Do you like what you see?  
Wooooaaaahhhh...  
Let me entertain 'ya till you screeaaam." I sang, Adam joining in on the 'oh's.  
"Oh, do you know what you got into?  
Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?  
'Cause it's about to get rough for you  
I'm here for your entertainment." We finished in, again, normal-Adam-poses. We got a minute long standing ovation.  
"There's no way in God Adam didn't know what song you were doing." Taye whispered to me as he shook my hand. I just gave him a knowing smile. He frowned and strutted towards the judge's table, Demi following on his heels. Adam shrugged and followed the other two judges.  
"So how our voting system works, is that America votes, and then the two judges will criticize the other judges groups, and at the end of this, we choose who starts the riff-off. We'll be back after these messages." Chris said . He turned to us and congradulated us.  
"That was really awesome. How long did you guys rehearse?" He asked, a grin on his face. We laughed.  
"Practically all night. We each got, what, four hours of sleep. We realized we were nervous, so we practiced a lot." Ashley asnwered.  
"I actually rehearsed in my room alone afterwards." Liz said, and I nodded in agreement. Chris chuckled.  
"Maybe you guys can teach me the dance sometime, I'll do it with you." Chris grinned, and I think I'm the only one who realized he wasn't joking.  
"And we're back in five four three." Someone called quietly to him. Chris fixed his tie and plastered a smile on his face. I chuckled.  
"Well, America, the votes are in. In first place was the Lovato Team, second was the Lamberts and last was Taye's team." Chris read off the screen in the back of the room, where the votes came up for him. The other two teams joined us onstage and we all took bows. We all ran offstage together, and within minutes, everyone was in regular clothes. We sat in the cafeteria specificaly for contestants. It was one of Demi's girls who suggested we push all the tables together and sit together as it was just twelve people eating in there anyways. We all agreed, Taye's team less than anyone else, but we pushed them together. I ended up between one of Demi's girls and Adam, when he came to sit with us.  
"Tommy says sorry." Adam said conversationally, as he pulled his chair in. I handed him a plate of mac and cheese, which he began to devour immediately.  
"He thought you were an easy catch, but he realized you weren't. Especially when I threatened to hurt him if he hurt you." Adam said, blushing slightly when he said that. The girl of Demi's was listening interestedly.  
"Hi, Adam. I'm-" I stopped listening. She was really chatty, as was Adam, so I knew I could blank out.  
I started when something paper fell to the floor.  
"Crap, that's my napkin. Can you get that, Niki?" Adam said. I bent down and started to pick it up, when I realized he'd written something on it. It said: 'Nikki, I know this is a bit weird, but do you wanna go out later? I know the idiots gave you a curfew, but if you wanna sneak out, let me know. -A'  
"Here, Adam. "I bent in close and whispered my answer in his ear as I gave it to him. He gave me a wide smile, and dropped something else.  
"Fuck, what the hell is wrong with me?!" He cried out. The Demi girl laughed, and I leaned down to get that also. He also leaned down and we ende dup under the table together.  
"I'm stepping on it. What?" I hissed at him. He grinned.  
"Just wanted you to have that and also, wear soemthing inconspicuous, I know a place we can change afterwards." Adam whispered back and kissed my cheek, before leaving. Blushing, I got up and opened the other paper he'd dropped. On it, was his number, and an address about three blocks from where we were staying. He'd signed it '-A 3' I smiled. This was something I could get used to.


End file.
